


The Shonen Jump Phenomenon

by plum_kouki



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Eventual Crossover, Magical Boys, Multi, but they'll be referred to name, everyone's in different bodies, no beta we die like men, okay this is a ridiculous concept but hear me the fuck out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2020-11-23 09:09:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20889644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plum_kouki/pseuds/plum_kouki
Summary: The recent phenomenon is unusual. People, more often teenagers, are claiming they're fictional anime characters from the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. It's a ridiculous concept, until said teenagers reveal their impossible power, and prove their claims to be true. One such teenager is Korean-American Haneul Song, now the current body of a teenage Son Goten, who after a sudden dream, finds himself in an unfamiliar world with unfamiliar people. He's not alone, however, and after running into Estevan Vega, the current body of a certain Prince Vegeta, finds himself in a sticky situation involving ghostly monsters and finding the rest of their families and friends. However, the situation grows stickier as they come across people from unfamiliar worlds, transform every time they need to fight, and governments willing to get their hands on them at any cost.





	1. Prologue- Amalgamation.

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know. 
> 
> This is actually a rewrite of one of my previous works, 'Defined by our Past Lives'. I've honestly tried finding ways how to continue it, but I was at a standstill considering I believed that I kinda just smashed together a bunch of bad ideas together. I was in the mindset that I shouldn't have introduced Vegeta and Goku like that, nor have added the two side characters (that would eventually become Gohan and Goten), as well as Trunks, leaving me with introducing things too early and too quickly and too many characters to handle. And then while Sora/Goku was a good idea, I think I shouldn't have them as a protagonist, and instead focus on a simpler protagonist. 
> 
> Originally, Trunks (the present version) was going to be the protagonist of this new version. But after much thinking, I much rather reveal Trunk's reincarnation at a later date, and have Goten take over as protagonist, considering he doesn't have much time to shine in both canon and fanon. Vegeta will still be the sort of mentor character to Goten, in this case, but they'll never develop a relationship like what I was planning with Sora/Goku. That can be pushed to the side for now. Instead, the main focus will be probably be Haneul/Goten and Trunks/whoever his reincarnation will be. 
> 
> The magical boy aspect will be kept, as well as the Shonen Jump crossover extravaganza, because it'll be fun to write those aspects. And instead of a town filled with Dragon Ball reincarnations, probably Goten and Vegeta will come across some fellows with reincarnations from other series. Keep in mind, only Shonen Jump reincarnations will appear, so don't expect Sailor Moon (since she's from Nakayoshi), Saitama (since he's from Weekly Young Jump, not Shonen Jump) nor Edward Elric appearing (since he's from Monthly Shonen Gangan).

It’s one of those dreams again. 

He’s dreaming of a life he’s never had, of being out in expansive fields with an older man he’s never known. Yet he treats him familiarly, and he’s catching fists with this man without them being angry in any way. It’s like fun roughhousing in a way? He’s losing badly, but the other doesn’t seem to lord his upper hand over him.

Black hair hangs over his forehead, and dark eyes stare at the other, looking up from his place at the floor. Soon after, a blue haired woman and a man with abnormally spiky hair land, and the four of them start a conversation. He doesn’t pay attention, because these people are strangers, yet his dream self doesn’t think so, and so he tunes them out. Soon after, his eyes catch a purple haired teenager approach him, and that’s the end of that.

A dark mist is seen at the corner of his eye, and he turns to see a ghostly like monster stand not far from their place, but yet neither of the people, neither of the three adults talking nor the purple haired teenager talking to him seem to notice it. Only he does, and he backs away in fear, seeing it approach him. 

Normally, two paths are taken. Either he cowers away, the dream ending when the monster pounces on him, or he suddenly makes a blue ki ball on his hand, the scene fading away, and him facing the thing alone with only his imagined abilities. This time, the second path is taken, feeling his wrist clench up, and a familiar energy flood his hand, before the scene suddenly disappears, and he’s rushing towards the monster.

It’s the shape of a tiger, growling and snarling at him as it pounces inches from his current position, and a ghostly black mist emits from his mouth. His eyes narrow at the cat, and launch ki blast after ki blast to keep it away from him. He’s running away, wanting as much distance away from it as possible, but the tiger rushes at him anyway, its glowing red eyes narrowing at the sight of him.

He should mention that usually the fight doesn’t end well for him, his dream ending when he’s exhausted beyond all doubt, and the big cat ready to eat him alive. However, this was a special dream, as he suddenly trips over another body in this empty world. 

It’s him...or rather it’s not him, even though he’s wearing the same jeans, yellow and green shirt and those weird yellow boots. He’s sound asleep, a snot bubble going in and out of his nose while he snores peacefully. How strange. He doesn’t recall having a double. Or maybe this is the actual person that he’s being in these dreams, and he’s been sleeping in the background for so long as he takes his place in these weird dreams.

However, there’s a ghostly tiger out to kill him, and the thing growls even more as he approaches the two of them, smoke coming from its maw and nostrils. He prepares another ki blast, aiming at the thing, but it doesn’t seem to do anything while in the presence of his double. His eyelids are twitching, and abruptly stops snoring as the tiger comes closer. 

There’s nothing he could do. He’s powerless against the cat, his double’s about to awaken, and the dream hasn’t quite reached its end yet. He cowered against the wall as he watches the cat walk closer to his double, its eyes alight with fury. For a moment, it seemed that the tiger was going to devour his sleeping double first, before going towards him. 

However….

In a split second, black eyes snap open, and a fist suddenly connects with the cat’s maw, suddenly sending it sprawling against the floor. He can only stare dumbfounded as his double rises, and blinks the sleep out of his eyes while he stretches. 

_**“So, what am I looking at here?”**_ he says, looking at him with curious eyes. He looks down at the print of his shirt, and chuckles. _**“Nice shirt ya got there. Didn’t know these were mass produced.”**_

He looks down at his shirt, and stares at the print. 

Goten Son. Was this his double’s name? 

_ **“Anyway, I’m not a fighting sort, but I see you’re in deep shit. Need me to help you out?”** _

He nods his head rapidly, and stares ahead at the tiger rising, clearly angered from the hit, and rushes towards his double. His double turns around, and looking at it with slight amusement, kicks it away without much effort. In fact, while the tiger is yowling and being sent away from the two of them again, he crouches, and cups his hands together. 

_ **“Kame…”** _

The tiger gets up again, and roars before rushing towards them again. 

_ **“Hame…”** _

He’s not sure why he’s stalling, but he presses himself up against the wall more as it approaches. 

_ **“...HAAAA!!!!”** _

A large, blue stream sparks from his hands, and the cat yowls one last time before being swept away by the beam. The double huffs in exhaustion before turning back to him. 

_ **“See, not that hard! It’s weaker than the stuff I used to fight as a kid.”** _

An eyebrow is quirked, and he looks at him closer.

_ **“Hey, no need to be afraid, but uh...why are you wearing my clothes?”** _

He blinks in response, standing up fully and prying himself from the wall and looks down at his clothing, before responding, “I...uh...usually wear these when I have weird dreams like these.”

_ **“Weird dreams like what?”** _

“Well, I’m fighting with an older man with a blue shirt and yellow pants-”

_ **“Oh, so you were sparring with my dad?”** _

“-a blue haired woman and a spiky haired man walk in-”

_ **“That’s Bulma and Vegeta-”** _

“-and then later on, a purple haired teenager lands in front of me-”

_ **“That’s Trunks. Man, that’s a boring memory though. But it makes sense. It’s just right before the World Tournament and Uub coming in, so I wouldn’t be surprised why your mind has such emphasis on it.”** _

He growls. “Let me finish!”

_ **“I am! Geez, you get angry easily, don’t ya?”** _

“Anyway, that scene happens, the purple haired dude talks to me, and this tiger appears out of nowhere, and I'm forced to either run away from it or fight a losing battle against it. This is the first time that’s been defeated.”

His double scratches the back of his head. 

_ **“Huh, that’s weird. I’ve spent so much time being asleep. But you having a repeating memory and this thing attacking you constantly? That’s super weird…”** _

He holds out a hand. 

_ **“Uh, sorry about starting with the wrong foot. Name’s Son Goten. And you?”** _

He looks at it carefully, and takes it. 

“My name is….Haneul Song.”

_ **“That’s a mouthful. But I’ll be sure to remember it. After all-”** _

He smiles sadly. 

_ **“-this is the end of you. We both can’t share the same body, unfortunately. And compared just how weak you are against me, well...you have to go.”** _

This was a shock to Haneul. He blinks a few times, before sighing in defeat. So all of these losing battles were just alluding to his eventual demise, wasn’t it? If the cat wasn’t going to kill him in his own mind, it would be the person who just saved him from it. But...it wasn’t like he was that much of a noteworthy person, was it? 

"What will happen to me, then?”

_ **“Well, you die. No, that isn’t right. Your body won’t die. But your spirit will. Once you’re pushed out, you’re a goner. Your personality dies once I come in. And it’s not like your ghost will suddenly come out of you, it’s more like an absorption where you’re just consumed by me, I guess.”** _

He scrunches his face in disgust. 

_ **“Okay, that makes me sound like Buu. But that’s the best way to explain things.”** _

Haneul sighs. 

“No goodbyes at all, huh…”

Goten shakes his head. 

_ **“Not technically. You’ll be back. After we’re done what went on back in my world, and what’s going on in your world, you’ll return back. Months or years may pass, but you’ll be back. Just without memory of this happening.”** _

Haneul stares at him again. 

“Well, that’s a relief. So now what?”

_ **“Just let things happen. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of your body well.”** _

“You better. Also, don’t be too harsh on my grandma.”

_ **“Yeah, I won’t. I swear.”** _

The other boy closes his eyes, and soon does Goten’s. A bright white light fills the room, and shines intensely, before only one person is left behind in the mindspace. Goten sighs as he suddenly receives pieces of memory and information from Haneul, and sits. A green orb begins to glow in his chest cavity, and he stares ahead at the mindspace.

_ **“I wonder how this thing’s gonna turn out, anyway…”** _


	2. Reunion! And the Appearance of a Bracelet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We introduce Vegeta (along with two other reincarnations of very iconic anime characters), and bring him and Goten to meet. 
> 
> So yeah, uh...I think I've briefly glossed over this in the original draft with Estevan/Vegeta's backstory, but in this one, it's pretty clear that Vegeta, Ichigo and Seiya are undocumented. This is to pretty much establish that there's other Awakened people in other parts of the world, but the reason for tracking down their respective teammates from their universes into the US is pretty much the same. (And also Goku's still in the country, but like I said, he'll be introduced much, much later.)
> 
> Also, beware of shittily written fight scenes (even though I've very much tried to write them), and slight OOC with both Seiya and Ichigo.

“You’re doing a shit job there, Kurosaki!”

“Give me a fucking break, this one’s harder to fight than the others! Maybe you should pull more weight around with those Cosmos of yours!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be swinging that goddamn thing around wildly!”

Vegeta blinked and stared at the ongoing battle with boredom. In his opinion, they were both shit at battling this new Ghost. But of course, instead of helping them, he leaned back onto the bed of the truck untransformed, watching as the two struggled with the horse Ghost. His auburn hair, having spiked into the familiar hairstyle he was used to in his previous life. 

“Oi. Quit arguing and put your fucking effort into this. I swear to fucking god, ever since Sasuke went off to find his goddamn boyfriend, you two have become more insufferable.”

“You shouldn’t be talking shit! You’re not even doing anything!”

“Yeah, because I rather have you actually train yourselves than to do all of the work for you. You’re lucky I’ve even stuck around for so long.”

“Well, we can’t forget Mexico, can’t we? Neither of us would’ve made it across if it weren’t for all of our team efforts.”

That was true. The four of them had originated from different parts of Mexico by themselves. It was pure chance that he came across Sasuke on his way into the U.S, begrudgingly working together with him (if only because if they got caught, it would be worse consequences than to be sent back to their home country), before coming across Ichigo and Seiya making fools of themselves asking for a ride before storming their way in. 

“Sasuke and I would have made it by ourselves just fine.”

“Nuh uh. You two would probably end up causing more attention than we all did crossing it,” Ichigo looked up, and nearly avoided getting smoked by the horse’s maw. Seiya covered him, striking the ghostly horse with a fist. 

“Just pay fucking attention this time. You nearly got killed there!” Vegeta yelled, already tired of the two’s fooling around, and materializing his silver bracelet immediately. Fuck this. Knowing if he stayed back longer, the two of them would get killed, and while Vegeta could go on alone, he rather not lose anybody he could trust at this moment. 

A blue gem, around the same color of his bodysuit, glowed, and he made a quick motion of crossing his arms into X before his ki rose up, and a bright light shining briefly before jumping in battle fully transformed. His original appearance was once more his; with his bodysuit and armor on, and his hair fully black and spiked up as always, black eyes narrowing at the enemy in sight. 

“Move, the two of you. You can’t even handle this goddamn thing.”

“Well, look who showed up! Took you long enough!”

“Shut the hell up and fucking move!”

Ichigo and Seiya jumped back into the sidelines, watching as Vegeta cut through the monster, kicking it away across the empty marketplace. He rushed towards it, launching a series of ki blasts, determined to end its life. The two shonen protagonists looked to each other briefly, and rushed after him, willing to lend a hand if the other slipped up. 

For a moment, the three worked together in perfect synergy, not bothering to argue and simply fight against the Ghost, their months of experience together coming in to pull off a flawless battle. Seiya, burning bright with his fighting spirit, worked alongside Vegeta to land blows (and ki blasts) against the ghostly horse, while Ichigo stood nearby for a killing blow. Once the opportunity was found, his brown eyes narrowed, and flew in from above as his sword cut across the face of the horse, rendering it to ashes. 

The three landed on the ground, watching it explode into a mist of ashes, and disappear entirely from their plane of existence. A long sigh was heard, and their transformations ebbed, retreating into the gems of their respective golden and silver bracelets, before they disappeared entirely. 

“Was that so fucking hard, Sergio? Ismael?”

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. “Do you really have to use our civilian names?”

“Yes! Because you two still can’t seem to shed the owners of those bodies away! What’s so hard about Amalgamating them into you?!”

“It’s not as easy as you make it to be!” Seiya argued back, “These are people with lives of their own, and we just took their bodies in order for us to have a chance to return back home!”

“Besides, even if we have Overriden them…” Ichigo explained, “Their influence still persists.”

“Then you haven’t Overriden them completely.”

“Hey, we can’t overtake our bodies’ spirits so violently like you did. Sometimes we just talk to them...or fight them.”

Vegeta huffed at this statement, and hopped right back into the truck, situating himself at the truck bed. “Whatever, let’s just move on. We all got to find our own people each.”

Ichigo yawned. “Somewhere to sleep too. I’m tired of being cramped up into the tiny truck.”

“Hey, you two and Sasuke decided on stealing this ratty old thing, instead of the van like I told you to. Then we wouldn’t have to figure out where to sleep.”

“Shut up and drive,” Vegeta called out from the truck bed, “I feel somebody Awakening not too far off from here. If we move quickly, we’ll be able to figure out who it is and add them to the group.”

“What if it is one of ours?” Ichigo asked.

“Even better. Best to organize as quickly as possible before They get to him.”

Not to mention that the energy signature was quite familiar...Kakarot? No. He shouldn’t get his hopes up too quickly yet. But it was one of his, of course, and the color would not be sensed until he got closer. All he could feel was that it was someone from his universe, and barely Awoken too. 

“Right…” Seiya hopped inside the truck, pushing away at Ichigo’s feet before he started up the truck. “So, where to, Vegeta?”

“North. Never ask me again, you know how to sense Awoken people like us, you lazy ass.”  
A slight chuckle was heard from inside, and Vegeta felt the hunk of metal rumble underneath him, before speeding off towards the direction of the Awoken person. Normally, the hum would lull him to sleep, but...considering it’s one of his, he could not afford to fall asleep. 

Not if it depended on him to save the other before getting snatched.

…

When Goten woke up, he was in a slight panic.

The room was widely unfamiliar, and for a moment, he thought that he was being held somewhere. He ripped the covers off of himself and looked at himself in slight fear, noticing how his muscle mass diminished greatly, and feeling his hair cut shorter before rushing towards the bathroom. Once his dark eyes met the mirror, a rather despairing look overcame him. 

This...was not himself. In fact, he looked far from himself, noticing the almost frail figure he had, before realizing one key thing.

Of course, this isn’t his body. It was Haneul’s, the person who he Amalgamated in the mindspace, whose body he taken for his own. And...well, as much as a shock it was, it was also sad. Because as long as he was in this body, he was not coming back, and neither of his family or friends or anybody he knew would be none the wiser. And that was the kicker. Only he, Son Goten, knew he was gone. 

The rest? Wouldn’t know a thing unless he told them, but even then, he would be branded as crazy. 

But before he could mull over things more, a knock was heard at the door, and Goten turned over to yell, “I’m busy!”

“You’re rather up early...what a surprise…” a rather aged, feminine voice called out, “Hurry up with whatever you’re doing inside of there, I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Uh, yeah, sure, just give me a minute!”

He looks at the mirror for a moment more, before opening the door. In front of him was a rather short, late fifties to early sixties looking woman, looking up at him with slight confusion, before entering in. 

“What’s the occasion?” 

“Huh? What occasion?”

“You’re normally not that up early unless you’re preparing for something, Haneul.”

He immediately rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. “I..just felt the need to, I guess? I couldn’t go back asleep afterwards, I had a weird dream last night-”

“Ah, a nightmare then. Well, dress up, I need for you to go to some errands for me today after breakfast.”

“Yeah, yeah, I will!”

Goten rushed back into his room, and closed the door behind him, breathing heavily all the while. Wow. He managed to play perfectly, with as little information he’d gotten from Haneul’s absorption. He looked towards the alarm, seeing that was only about seven in the morning. Huh. That was normal for him. Guess his body woke up later than usual…

Seeing that he had to do stuff (and figure out how to seem normal before anybody caught on) in the morning, he went over to change. Turns out Haneul had similar fashion as he did, so he picked a simple colored T-shirt and jeans before heading out to the dining room.

His grandma was just barely setting down plates of eggs and sausage, and being that his brain was always in Hungry mode, he immediately sat down and went to digging on his plate. The older woman looked at him in amusement, and watched as he cleanly wiped his plate. 

“Are you that much in a hurry to go?”

Goten laughed at her statement, rubbing the back of his head again. 

“No, I just was suddenly really hungry….”

“I haven’t seen you empty out a plate like that so quick, Haneul. But I’m glad to see you eating normally again. I was growing worried when you were picking at your own food…”

Goten blinked, and internally cringed. Fuck. He wasn’t acting like he was supposed to. But then again, just what was going on with Haneul before he took over that led to him not to eat much? Whatever. He couldn’t be without food just for the sake of acting, so he merely raised his plate up sheepishly for more helpings.

“Guess the hunger had to hit some way or another…”

After five platefuls of breakfast, his grandma sent him out into the city to collect some errands, putting money in his hand, and a list in another before instructing him to the nearest farmer’s market. He looked around in confusion, this world clearly much different than the one he was used. Colors seemed to be washed out, people were unremarkable in every way (except for a few exceptions), and there were no animal people nor any flying cars. He was aware that he was no longer in the country, but this wasn’t like West City in anyway.

Not at all…

Meanwhile, while Goten was wandering around the stalls of the farmer’s markets for what his grandma wanted, Vegeta, along with Seiya and Ichigo were inside as well, looking for any potential breakfast. (While Vegeta was still keeping his senses honed onto the now moving, green colored orb. This wasn’t Kakarot, unfortunately, it was definitely someone from his own dimension.)

“Everything smells so good,” Seiya remarked, peeking around the stalls selling hot food, “You sure you don’t want any of this, Vegeta?”

The russet haired teenager shook his head. 

“Not when I feel the next one of us wandering around so close.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard you say that,” Ichigo remarked, “You normally jump at the thought of food.”

“Well, this other Awakened takes priority. I don’t want them to suddenly transform and get the three of us in trouble. Or themselves.”

Seiya looked over Vegeta in slight amusement towards Ichigo. 

“How much do we bet that it’s someone from Vegeta’s dimension? He didn’t get like this when we ran into explosion boy a few cities back.”

“To be fair,” Ichigo responded, “Explosion Boy was nasty to the three of us, and Vegeta didn’t want anything to do with him despite him being a fellow Silver. Dude nearly killed him.”

Vegeta scowled. “I’d highly appreciate it if you two didn’t talk over me…”

“Sorry about that.”

Suddenly, a messy haired boy bumped into the taller of them, letting go of his list accidentally as he fell to the floor. Ichigo immediately went to pick him up, asking, “Hey, you’re alright there?”

“Uh, yeah, I just wasn’t watching where I was going-”

He picks up his list, and locks eyes with Vegeta, before a sense of familiarity washed over him. A green glow briefly glows, as well as Vegeta’s, which was a navy blue, before the two orbs briefly change color to orange. 

“Of course. It had to be one of the clown’s sons. No wonder I thought you were Kakarot from a distance,” Vegeta began, looking up at the taller boy, “Your kis are extremely similar at a distance without noting the color.”

“Uh, hey, Mr. Vegeta…” Goten started, “I didn’t expect to run into you so soon.”

“Of course you didn’t. I had to bust ass getting here.”

He laughed sheepishly, and his hand flew to the back of his head. “This is my first day in this body, so I couldn’t exactly go hunting down you guys without knowing what’s what in this world.”

Ichigo’s eyes widened. 

“Oh, you’re _new_ new. Damn, you probably can’t transform yet.”

Goten blinked in confusion.

“Transform-?”

Vegeta held up a hand. “Let’s have this conversation somewhere where people can’t hear us. Can’t have some snitch listening in and getting ideas.” The orange glow faded, and it was like nothing happened between.

Goten held up his list. “Well, uh, I got errands to finish for my grandma-”

Seiya takes it, and looks it over. “We can help. Shouldn’t take too long to do this and then finish out our conversation somewhere else, right?”

Vegeta grumbles. “Make it quick. This is important for all of us.”

After a few minutes of walking around and getting ingredients for Goten’s (or Haneul’s) grandmother, the four stood around at an abandoned alley near the market, setting down the plastic bags at their feet. 

“So, what’s going on?” Goten asked, looking between the three, “And who’s these two guys with you, Mr. Vegeta?”

“Uh-”

Vegeta raises a hand again to shut Ichigo up. “These two come from different universes. Or dimensions. I only managed to come across them while we were escaping Mexico to get here.” 

He points to Ichigo. “Orange haired clown is Ichigo. He apparently comes from a world where the goddamn dead walk around and get turned into monsters if they’re out for too long. Figures their Otherworld is shit.” Ichigo frowns at his description, and then Vegeta points over to the other person. “Now this other one is Seiya. He hasn’t been too specific with his shit, but apparently he’s got a magic cloth that grants him the ability to punch people, and has to protect some kind of goddess or something.” Seiya looks at him with slight annoyance as well, but Goten nods along.

“As for what we are, we’re Awakeneds-”

A sudden cry was heard near their location, and Ichigo rushes out of the alley to check what was going on. “Aw, goddamnit, there’s another one. Vegeta, Seiya, a Ghost’s appeared!”

Both boys turn to him, and look over to a swarm of crows wrecking the farmer’s market. Smoke rises into the air, although not from a fire, but from the swarm itself, uncharacteristically swooping down to peck at the screaming civilians. 

“Fuck. We have to cut this short.”

“Crows? There’s other animals that can be like that-?” Goten asked, looking over to them, “I had to fight a tiger when I was trying to get this body-”

“No time to talk!” Vegeta barked, “Stay back and wait for us. This shouldn’t take long.”

“Wait, why do I have to stay back-?!”

“Because you can’t transform. If you haven’t realized, you can’t fight in your current body-!” Suddenly, a pair of gold bracelets and a silver bracelet snapped around the three boys’ wrists, and with a quick motion of their arms and a shout (_**“JUMP SPIRIT, AWAKEN!”**_), they returned to their previous incarnations. 

Goten watched astonished as Vegeta’s formerly russet hair turned back to black, and his human-like ki shoot up dramatically, Ichigo’s amber hair go a shocking orange, and Seiya suddenly adorned himself in armor. The three rushed off, with Vegeta starting the battle by flinging ki blasts towards the seemingly insane crows, and flying above the market. Ichigo and Seiya took care of the civilians, leading some away while fighting back with some low-lying crows.

“Holy shit…” Goten muttered from his spot, “Do they deal with these kinds of things often?”

However, even as the three Awakeneds fought the majority of the enemy inside of the market, a few of the crows flew towards Goten’s direction, sensing he was one of the three, albeit an easier target. The teen noticed this quick, and braced himself for their impact, hoping to tank it as he did in the dreamspace, before suddenly being thrown back to the back wall of the alley.

He groaned in pain, holding his head before staring at the three crows circling above him. 

“Geez, these are a lot stronger than the tiger…” he remarked, before getting up shakily from his position, and slipping into a natural fighting stance before the crows swooped down again. They reached for his eyes, although Goten had to duck down his head a couple times more necessary than he thought he would, his hand jabbed at one of the crows with surprising energy, launching it from the alley and turning it into ash.

But overall...he was fucked, only managing to defend himself against the two others. 

_‘Holy shit...I can’t fight like this…’_ he thought, dodging another attempt towards his face, and swiping it to the wall. _‘But at least my strength is still there. But I can’t access my ki-!’_

The crow, now angrier, rushed towards him with a frightening speed, and Goten only reach his arms up to his face before suddenly the crow and its closely hovering friend stopped. 

For one, a snap was heard, and Goten saw a glistening silver bracelet around his right wrist, with a green colored gem pulsing every so often. And two...Vegeta managed to notice the commotion in the alley, shooting at the two crows inside, before they turned to ash. 

“Well, you at least gained your bracelet. That’s good enough for now.”

Goten put down his arms, and stared at the familiar appearance of his best friend’s father. The other’s eyes narrowed slightly, before returning back to his civilian form. “You’re learning a lot quicker than I thought you would. You’ll be useful soon.”

The two others joined by his side, and de-transformed as well, looking at the sudden appearance of his bracelet. 

“So…” Seiya started, “You must have a lot of questions. We’ll try to explain most of them as much as we could.”

Goten nods in response, and quickly picks up the slightly scuffed bags of groceries before the four flee somewhere far from the ruined state of the farmer’s market. A police car, as well as a pair of FBI informants arrive at the scene, and much to the latter’s annoyance, no sign of the Awakened teenagers were seen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character Profiles:
> 
> Haneul Song: Reincarnation of Son Goten. Short messy black hair, pale skin, dark eyes, Korean-American. Lives with his grandma, although it's unknown what happened to his parents in general. Implied to be somewhat depressed. 
> 
> Estevan Vega: Reincarnation of Vegeta. Russet hair, tan skin, dark eyes, Mexican. Hair was spiky, and used to be a lot more flattened before Vegeta's influence caused it to spike up in his usual hairstyle. Family unknown. 
> 
> Ismael Guerrero: Reincarnation of Ichigo Kurosaki. Amber hair, brown skin, dark eyes, Mexican. Hair was darker before Ichigo's influence set in, causing it to lighten. Family unknown.
> 
> Sergio Caballo: Reincarnation of Pegasus Seiya. Dark brown hair, brown skin, dark eyes, Mexican. Civilian appearance is very similar to his actual appearance, except for hair being a lot tamer in his civilian form than his actual appearance. Family unknown. 
> 
> All characters above are referred as Goten, Vegeta, Ichigo and Seiya in the general story, although when talking to other civilians or even amongst themselves in a public place, their civilian names will be used. More info about their civilian selves will probably be revealed as the story goes on. 
> 
> Also, bracelets are their sort of magical trinket. The gems come in different colors (representing the colored energy of that specific person), and the bracelets themselves even come in different metals (gold for the main protagonist of their respective series, and silver for the main supporting characters of their series). Other colors and metals will be revealed as soon as the story goes on.


	3. The Shocking Realization! Of Backstories and Manga

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. For being just an info dump chapter, this was hard to write. However, I think this is good enough, despite me constantly brainstorming and figuring out what to do with the four characters in the story.
> 
> So, yeah, this is the result.
> 
> Hints of backstory are revealed, the whole 'hey, we're all actually fictional in this world' thing happens (although don't worry, it may not affect Goten now, but it will certainly affect him later on).

He didn’t expect to retreat into a bookstore.

After the whole debacle involving the earlier fight, he expected to just run inside into another alley or hang out somewhere where the police couldn’t reach them easily, but a bookstore?? The staff didn’t bother to look up to see a gaggle of teenage boys walking in, and after some looking around, retreated into a corner of the store.

“Oh thank god, I thought there wouldn’t be any of these around,” Seiya muttered, before the four of them stopped in front of a shelf full of manga. “Tch, still no Saint Seiya.”

“Your fucking series is too old,” Vegeta bit back, “From what we all found out, it’s like 30 years old by now.”

“33. And your series is old too, but they still have it here!”

“Yeah, but it’s iconic.”

“Iconic my ass! I was well known back in Mexico!”

“But only in Mexico, not worldwide.”

“You’re really gonna start this off again, Vegeta?!”

Goten looked between them in confusion, before Ichigo laughed. “Man, I really feel like a kid between these two. Mine’s barely 18 years old right now.”

“Series…?” he asked, “What are they even talking about?”

“Manga series,” he pulls out a Bleach volume from the shelf, and looks at the cover, “It’s a hard pill to swallow, but all four of us are fictional characters to these people. We exist, but not really.”

He shows him the manga cover, featuring Ichigo, in his actual appearance, holding a sword out to the reader. “To them, all of our lives, struggles, and successes are just an entertaining story to them. They relate to us, they cheer us on, but in the end, we’re just lines on paper. We aren’t real to them.” He picks up another volume, this time, a Dragon Ball manga, and flicks through it before nodding in affirmation. 

“See?”

He shows him a page of the final volume, showcasing Goten in his teenage form. His eyes widen at the sight, taking the book from Ichigo’s eyes, and reading through the chapter, slowly realizing that the pages recounted one of his memories. 

“You’re lucky, you know. Nobody knows how you lived your entire childhood, how you grew up to be a teenager. Nobody really knows you entirely. Can’t say the same for your father, however. A good chunk of his life makes up the manga.”

After reading through it, he suddenly dropped the book, looking at it blankly. 

“There’s pieces missing…” he says, “But it’s exactly how I remember that day. Dad forced me to go to the Tournament, Vegeta forced Trunks as well, and they were talking about something-” He looks up towards Ichigo. “So essentially-?”

“Look at the author’s name.”

Goten picks up the book again, and looks at the cover, before gulping at the name written at the very lower corner. 

“He’s the one who brought you and everyone you know to life. Without him, the very concept of you wouldn’t exist here. Or maybe in an entire universal level, your universe wouldn’t exist.”  
He hands it back. 

“Sorry, I need time to process this-”

“Get over it quick,” Vegeta barks from his side, having overheard part of Goten’s and Ichigo’s conversation, “We have much more pressing matters to attend to than to ponder our existence and this Toriyama person. You’re here now, and you shouldn’t bother with whatever this world has in store with our fictional selves.”

He pulls off a few more Dragon Ball volumes from the shelf, and directs them to a wooden table nearby. Seiya and Ichigo follow, but not before the other grabs a couple of Bleach volumes to himself. The four settle into the table, and Vegeta stares into the younger’s eyes.

“As you know, there’s Ghosts amongst us. You’ve seen those insane crows attacking us.”

Goten nods. 

“And you’re well aware that we’re only fictional people in this world. It’s not something that neither of us can process fully, but put that back into the backburner for now. How much do you remember?”

He thinks, and purses his lips.   
“Up to when I entered the Tournament. I was forced to go in by Dad.”

“Do you remember the Tournament at all?”

“Uh...well, Trunks got stuck fighting some guy that liked him, Pan beat my ass, and Goku was fighting some kid-”

“Anything before that?”

“Before that? Like Buu?”

“Yes.”

He thinks again. “Some of it. I have some stuff blocked out due to the fusion and all that. But fighting? I can’t remember how to go Super Saiyan. Nor any techniques I learned in the past. Just mundane stuff.”

Vegeta sighs. “That’s unfortunately common. Or at least from the Awakened people that we ran into. Nobody under five months of being Awakened could remember how they used to fight. Unless they were aware of the whole fictional person thing and deliberately went to seek out whatever is out there to remember more.” 

He raises a manga, and nearly tosses it to Goten’s face, nearly socking him with it before the other barely caught it. 

“That’s the usefulness of these. You can’t bring a goddamn book to a battle, but at least you can read it enough times to get an idea of what to do. Or watch things. Although, I wouldn’t trust the animated shit, anyways.”

Goten blinks in confusion, and looks down at the manga in hand. 

“Of course, there isn’t much of you in the manga apart from Gotenks, so I don’t know, look in the Internet or something for more shit. Just keep watching and reading until you gain some form of memory,” Vegeta continued. 

“Got it. That’s how you all managed to figure it out?”

“Essentially,” Ichigo responded, “Tough luck for Seiya, though.”

“Shut up. How am I supposed to get the manga, huh? I can watch the fucking show all day but I have nothing to watch it on!”

Vegeta waves a hand in dismissal. “Just steal a goddamn TV. You have the CDs.”

“Yeah, like that’s easy!”

“Speaking of which…” Goten trailed off, catching the attention of all three boys, “...how did you handle this whole body-snatching business? I still can’t get used to this.”

“That’s probably because you’re only a day in,” Ichigo supplied, giving a smile to the other, “You’ll grow used to it. And it’s not like your body doesn’t adapt to your former appearance.” He points towards Vegeta, and snorts, “You think his hair was like that when he first Awakened?”

Goten blinked. “Maybe?”

“Nah,” Seiya replied, “Hair in this world isn’t like yours in your universe. It doesn’t stand up like that.”

“Huh?”

Vegeta sighs. “He’s right. This fucking body had his fucking hair shaved to the goddamn scalp. Took me ages to grow it back, and even more for this body to adapt to my former appearance.”

Goten suddenly had the picture of Vegeta with nearly shaved hair, before snorting in laughter.

“Of course you think it’s fucking funny,” Vegeta growled back, “But when you’ve woken up after a goddamn fight with the original soul and see yourself sleeping next to a goddamn dirty puddle, it’s fucking traumatizing.”

“That’s rough.”

Ichigo shakes his head. “It’s kinda common, really. I was lucky to have woken up with a mom and a younger sibling. Not the nicest of conditions, but I managed for three months before I left with Vegeta and the others. Told her that I was gonna attempt crossing, and poor woman clung to me to the longest of times before she let go.”

He sighed. Of course, his mom was dead during most of his life in his world. Seeing the older woman and the younger brother he left behind simply because he had to follow a hunch to find the rest of his loved ones broke him somewhat. Hurt even more when she slightly resembled her. 

“Well, in my case, my parents were glad to get rid of me,” Seiya admitted, “Said that I was an embarrassment to the family and so I left without regrets. Bunch of bastards. Gave a hug to the older sister, though. She didn’t want me to leave in those circumstances, but oh well. Only because I fought a Ghost in plain sight, and destroyed a good chunk of the town.”

“That was stupid of you,” Vegeta remarked, “You’re lucky you weren’t caught by the government.”

Seiya chuckled. “Well, aren’t I doubly lucky. It looked like a murder scene. Killed the guy accidentally while taking the Ghost out of him. Shame. He was a good guy, but poor dude died even before I gave him the Pegasus Meteor Fist.”

Goten cringed. Yikes. He was lucky to have run out of that situation. “And you, Vegeta?”

He sighed, and tapped his fingers onto the table. “I was an orphan. Lived in a shitty, run down building with shitty people before I got kicked out for being too old to live there. Good fucking riddance, Frieza did a better job of housing me than that place. My body was equally as shitty, too. Fucking dumbass was in a gang, and got himself knifed before my Awakening healed him.”

Of course, there was much more, such evading the rivals and getting himself on track somewhat before leaving. Making sure that the rest of the year, he had enough money from odd jobs he got into (took most of his pride to ask around and do menial shit as well, but he had to quickly get over it if he had to find Kakarot). And of course, using his goddamn Awakening too many times just to stave off any potential killers because his body did some dumb shit that got him in trouble before. 

“Whatever. I don’t want to talk about it too much. Point is, I had to work my ass off to get something to keep traveling off of the shitty town I woke up in, and ran into someone willing to help. Dumbass was a weak piece of shit. Deserved wholeheartedly to get absorbed by my hand.”

He huffed, and Goten took it as the end of that conversation. He clutched the manga in hand, and flipped through it before standing up.

“Thanks for the sudden meeting, I suppose. I kinda need to get back home, so where can I see you three again-?”

“Ah, that would be an empty parking lot near an abandoned plaza,” Ichigo explained, “There’s like at least one working insurance place there, and like some sort of church nearby, so you should find it.”

Goten nods. “Yeah, okay. I’ll...see you guys around tomorrow?”

“You better,” Vegeta scowled, “I’m not wasting time here in this city for you to be acting like some sort of fool and forgetting what your true goal is.”

“Which is?”

“Going back home.”

Goten widened his eyes briefly before nodding again. Yeah, even though this world was unfamiliar, and he was inside of an unfamiliar body, he wasn’t going to stay here for long. Right?

He pays for it with whatever change he had in hand on his way out (and thank god that he had enough), and walked away with his shopping bags. He needed to look more into this. Needed to figure out where to go from there and see if he had to leave this city just as the three did with their home country.

As he left, Vegeta sat back into his chair, and looked down at the manga spread out in front of them. “So, remember what I talked to you guys about a while back?”

“The need to break away from us to find your own? Yeah,” Seiya admitted, and sank his head down onto the table. “I get it. Guy needs someone from his home guiding him around.”

“Do I trust you two to get along when I leave?”

Ichigo smiles painfully. “Losing Sasuke was tough. Losing you even more. But I guess if someone had to stay to teach the new guy the ropes, I guess you would be the one to do so.”

“He’s Kakarot’s son,” Vegeta admitted, “The youngest. Little shit hung around my only son a lot as kids and teenagers. I need to admit, if he’s around here, then there’s a chance he could lead me to Kakarot faster than I would alone. And the chance to find Trunks, as well. The two always stuck together, he should be close by. And you two haven’t answered my question.”

“We’ll try,” Seiya admitted, “Like Ichigo said, it’s gonna be tough. But we’ll try. I still need to find the rest of the Saints and Athena, and he needs to find his death reaper buddies. We have a common goal, here.”

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the other. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call the shinigami that.”

“Same thing.”

Vegeta snorted at the impending argument, and closed his eyes.

They were in good hands. 

…

Goten arrived home to a distraught grandmother. 

When he rang the doorbell to his apartment, the older woman frantically opened it, and looked towards in obvious relief. “Haneul! Thank goodness. You’re okay.”

“Sorry about the wait, Grandma,” he replied, the word still unfamiliar in his mouth, walking in with the white plastic bags in hand. “A lot has happened on my way home.”

“I could tell!” she scolded him, “Did you know a sudden attack happened at the farmer’s market!? I thought I lost you like your parents!”

_‘Lost me like my parents?’_ Goten thought, _‘What happened?’_ He shook his head from the thought, and looked down at the elder woman. “I’m fine. I got out before it happened.”

“You always were a very lucky boy,” she remarked, taking the bags into the kitchen, “I don’t know what fuels it, but it’s a good trait to have. Especially with the previous accident...it’s a miracle you came as unscathed as you did.” She turned around, and shooed him away from the kitchen. 

“Yeah…”

He retreats into his room again, and sighs. This was more complicated than he envisioned, especially when running into Vegeta and those two other guys earlier. It was kind of uncharacteristic of him, but Goten climbed into bed, before pulling the covers over him. Maybe this could be resolved with a tiny nap….

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so actual Haneul won't be appearing as Sora did in the original. Instead, Goten overtakes him, hence the 'amalgamation'. From then on, it'll be only Goten, although in conversations with people in the outside world (except for Vegeta and any other Awakeneds), he'll be referred to as 'Haneul'. Otherwise, it's just Goten. 
> 
> Actual Amalgamations such as with Goten and Haneul aren't as kind most of the time, and you'll probably hear of it when Vegeta explains his Amalgamation. Just know that it's usually the anime character overtaking the actual person and taking the body for themselves. And yes, there's going to be eventual physical changes, but that won't be until much, much later.


End file.
